Agenda - 09-02-2008 - 7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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2.0 Future Orange County Waste Disposal Needs Based on current data, the County (excluding recycled material from the University of North Carolina (UNC)) generated approximately 116,000 tons of waste in FY 2006 -07 or about 318 tons per day (TPD). Of that material, approximately 15,600 tons or 42 TPD were captured recyclables. Approximately 16,500 tons of material were buried in a construction and demolition waste (C &D) landfill located in Orange County and 8,700 tons of C &D were shipped for disposal out of the County. Tires, clean wood, brush, appliances and scrap metal totaling 12,300 were also recycled in 2006 -2007. That leaves approximately 62,900 tons of waste or 172 TPD from Orange County disposed in landfills both inside and outside the County. This tonnage could be further reduced with additional diversion programs. The County is examining ways to achieve its goal of 61 percent waste reduction. As part of this solid waste planning process update, the County has developed a series of reports evaluating current collection programs, looking at ways to increase diversion and deliver services more efficiently and effectively. These reports will be followed by technical reports on integrating the desired actions into the County's system and financing, which will result in a draft plan for the next three year planning cycle. The County's MSW landfill is now projected to close in early 2011. The County has decided to manage its future MSW using a transfer station and contracting for disposal in an out -of -County landfill. A County-wide search is underway for a suitable site to situate the transfer station with site selection expected by the end of 2008. Following site selection, the County will design, permit, finance, and construct the transfer station, ideally before landfill closure. If the transfer station is not completed by the time the landfill is closed, managing MSW during that time period will be expensive and operationally challenging. The projected landfill closure date may be impacted by new rules governing what was formerly considered C &D. This material must now be disposed of in lined landfill space. As of April 2008, stricter enforcement of the rules governing C &D landfills require the County to deposit furniture and other bulky items in the lined MSW landfill. This may result in a shift of as much as 8,000 tons of waste a year from C &D landfills to MSW landfills, shortening the life expectancy of the County's MSW landfill by as much as five months. As it is, the County- generated 172 TPD is probably too small to make an alternative waste processing technology economically viable. However, the Durham Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Person Counties, had a population of 465,745 people who generated 476,710 tons of municipal solid waste from July 2006 - June 2007, according to the FY 2006 -2007 North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Solid Waste Annual Report. Of that 476,710 tons of waste, an estimated 90,575 tons or 19 percent2 constitutes recyclables. The resulting 386,135 of MSW could translate into 2 Simmons, Phil; Goldstein, Nora; Kaufman, Scott M.; Themelis, Nickolas J.; and Thompson, Jr., James. "The State of Garbage in America." Biocycle, April 2006: 26. <http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/000848.htmI>. GBB/C08027 -01 3 August 15, 2008